While completely disparate topics, they are all things I think warrant discussion.

Sometimes, I don’t know why, either.

Sometimes, it’s as simple as a slow news day. I mean, when there’s nothing else to write about but Lamar Odom’s alleged crack addiction, you gotta do what you gotta do. But, sometimes, I find myself floored by how much of a shit I actually give. And I know it’s my job to care. But other people care, too.

Why?

I guess I’ve never really posed the question before—to myself or to you, The People. I mean, why do we care about any of this?

I’m going to stop you, Very Intelligent Commenter. I know You don’t. For You have more scholarly pursuits and cannot waste valuable brainspace on such vapidity. I’m talking to Those Other Ones. You know. Them.

And, you know, Me, obviously.

I guess I care because … I just do. I find it all interesting—what catches on, what becomes popular, what’s considered scorn-worthy, what catches fire, how people respond to public crises, how people lie their way out of something. How things go so wrong when someone has all the resources in the world. It’s just all interesting to me.

Because I feel that way, and because Pajiba has broadened its scope from bitchy movie talk to bitchy pop culture talk, I’ve been — at times directly, at other times indirectly — accused of ruining the site. And I’m not the only one. My friend and loved one Joanna Robinson, an objectively talented writer, has referred to us as “the ovaries who stole Christmas” because we, to some, represent an ebb in Pajiba — the shift in tone to the celebration of the frivolous. Maybe there’s some truth to that. I don’t know. But, I know this: why the fuck not?

Why not talk about Miley Cyrus at the VMAs? Why not talk about Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas’s marriage? Why not talk about Leah Remini trying to single-handedly fight Xenu with her lengthy Brooklyn nails? It’s the world we live in. No, it’s not as important as Syria. But that doesn’t mean it’s not important. What we’re talking about when we talk about celebrity gossip is society as a whole — dissecting what is and is not valued in our culture. It’s fascinating. And sometimes, we’re just talking about Hannah Montana shaking her potatoes for the world to see. Sometimes it’s just surface, it’s just schadenfreude, it’s just fun. And I think that’s OK, too.

Some just like talking about pop culture. And, like it or not, pop culture includes Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus and the goddamned Kardashians.

Are you following Pajiba on Facebook or Twitter? Every time you do, Bill Murray crashes a wedding.

Comments Are Welcome, Bigots and Trolls Are Not

Nikhil

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Dammit, I knew I shouldn't have wandered over here with nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon ... (Cue up: Every time I think I'm out they pull me back in).

And now I'm forced to clarify matters a little.

Courtney: You have my complete respect and affection, or at least as much as Mrs. , allows me to give someone I've never met. You are a fine and funny and intelligent writer, and you've brightened the place up considerably.

But your posts sometimes conflict with my idea (or ideal, perhaps) of Pajiba as a place I can come to get AWAY from the Karfuckingdashians and the Miley fucking Cyruses, kind of like why I go to this one bar here a lot, because it has a TV but it's seldom turned on. It's a refuge from every other bar in town with their 20 TVs and ESPN on every fucking one of them. Plenty of places I can go on the web to find out about the Karfuckingdashians if I gave a fuck. There ought to be some place, ONE place I can go where I don't have to look at them. I would like Pajiba to be that place, but it's not anymore, and while I had endured that fact for awhile in the hopes it would somehow translate into more money for Dustin to keep the place up and running (and, not incidentally, to be able to pay the fine writers a little something for their efforts), I'd also like to maintain some semblance of self respect, and the post in question just pushed me around the bend.

It happened to show up in roughly the same week a copy of US magazine arrived in my mailbox (I don't know how I ended up with a subscription, I certainly didn't consciously sign up for one, they just started showing up one day. I give them to Mrs. , ... after, of course, I check out "Who wore it best" because Heidi Klum looks great in anything) with Kim Karfuckingdashian's picture on the cover and the headline "TORTURED BY HER BODY."

My god, I thought. What's wrong with her? Does she have MS? Lou Gehrig's Disease? Parkinson's? What? "TORTURED"! It must be something terrible, and while I wouldn't cross the street to piss on her if she were on fire, I wouldn't wish a serious wasting illness on anybody.

Then I read the subhead, which said, essentially, that she'd gone into hiding because she had ONLY lost 30 pounds of babyweight.

Jesus F. Christ.

I write headlines as part of my job. If I had written that one, I'd have to go out and fucking kill myself.

Anyway, I decided I don't want to deal anymore with the rage that tends to build up in me any time I'm exposed to those idiots, even just pictures of them. Unfortunately, that means having to stay away from here. And I'd been managing that pretty well, up to the moment I click on the post-comment arrow.

Again, Courtney, my outrage is not vented at you. Keep doing what you do, because you do it very well. It's vented at a world where Karfuckingdashians and Miley fucking Cyrus and Justin fucking Bieber and their ilk are allowed to prosper. That's not a world I want to live in much anymore. Life's too short now for me to get my panties in a twist about such idiocy. It's probably just best for my (now high) blood pressure if I avoid it as much as possible.

X0X0X0X

DominaNefret

Um, because it is watching movies and tv shows played out in real life.

I think we care because of aspirational projections. Celebrities - because most of them are beautiful, rich and famous - live lives that most mortals like us dream of (come on, honestly, who doesnt at least want more money and someone to take care of all the stressful mundane crap that takes over our lives?) but are unlikely to ever achieve. Knowing private details about them and discussing these details, mentally brings Us closer to THEM. And when They do something silly/stupid/sad - like an embarrassing performance or an affair - it makes Them more like Us.

On a personal level, I work on international communication strategies, so for me the world of Celebrity is an endless case study of brand, PR and crisis management. And it's fascinating.

kirbyjay

There's nothing wrong with consuming pop culture to lighten your day. I think what worries many people and most Pajibans is the vast amount of people ( ignoramusii) that ONLY consume pop culture and couldn't even tell you where Syria is.

Uriah_Creep

Courtney, were you driven to write this, at least in part, because of the meltdown by a long-time commenter this past week (hint: he was a punctuation mark). Because frankly, no matter how long he's been participating, he was out of line, and I have a feeling most of us would support you in that little kerfuffle.

L.O.V.E.

Enlow, you should be ashamed. Two words: Martin Luther King. Two more words: Labor Day. See?Sing a negro spiritual song once in a while, okay?

There are people in Syria who don't even get gas anymore. And Obama wants to bomb them to steal their gas. Think about it.

And Kim Kardashian was shot by North Korea for making pornography, so the joke is on you.

Miley Cyrus? Seriously? Seriously. There are kids in China who get foam fingers in China-ese. It doesn't even make any sense.

But enjoy your People Magazine on the loo, because this DJ I know named DJ Fresh And Easy doesn't use plastic bags.

I love talking about unimportant stuff. I enjoy ripping apart the lives of fictional people, judging their choices, and giving advice since I obviously know so much better than they do. I like it because I know I'm not doing those fictional characters any harm and what I say won't affect what they do (unless their creators decide to take crowd-sourced advice).

I don't enjoy doing that with real people, especially the ones that either really seem to have mental issues (many former child stars) or are obviously inviting me to judge them because they love the attention and make money doing it (Kardashians). Doing that with real people seems to do three things: 1) causes harassment to celebrities that don't want that kind of attention, 2) adversely affects some of the celebrities with mental issues, and 3) causes more and more people to pop out the woodwork and put sex tapes on the internet or do other weird attention-getting antics so they too can be famous for being famous.

Dennis Albert Ramirez

i have no issue with it. i think someone who's so uptight that they can only read Very Intellectual media is just as boring as someone so vapid that they can only read tabloid or celebrity stuff.

i like to think of myself as hitting that sweet spot in the middle, and if i'm not, the community here at Pajiba definitely is. Especially because I can go to the same place and read a deeply personal piece about rape and immediately follow it up with celeb gossip without missing a beat, and seeing the other of both pieces switch hats with no effort

fuck the haters, keep doing what you do

Pitry

Wait, we can't care about Syria and read Pajiba at the same time? I can't avoid reading the 12 books that are staring at me and remind me the clock is ticking on my PhD by reading Pajiba? We're people, not pop culture characters. Or soundbytes. Or idea(l)s. Part of being an actual human being is the ability to give a shit about both important and unimportant things.

Besides, who says this isn't Just As Relevant? I dunno about the Kardashians, but if we look at Miley Cyrus - well, all the talking about her performance brought up a lot of points about misogyny, slut shaming, racism, cultural appropriation... yup - this is VERY MUCH the world we're living in.

Sigh, if this goes on, I'll need to actually register the username. And continue to guiltily avoid those books. Actually, reading Pajiba is, at the end of it, much less time consuming than sitting in Doctor Who forums, because there I can spend hours arguing with people with all those different threads. Here there's only a handful of posts a day. I am being responsible with my PhD by reading Pajiba, see?!

abell

Personally, I don't think it's worth it. I don't read the stuff about who's wearing what and who's dating whom. It's meaningless information about meaningless people. But, I don't think you should stop publishing it, I just don't read it. On the other hand, the other items, personal struggles, etc., certainly deserve a forum.

In short, stay the course.

HMDK

It ain't the focus, it's what you do with it, should be the takeaway. And now I'm hungry again..

LB

My mom always told me that I would be a very boring person at social gatherings if I didn't know at least a little bit about pop culture or watch at least a little frivolous TV. True story, and a true statement, probably.

Tinkerville

A number of people have touched on the need for some mindless fun amid the depressing shit and I agree 100%. It's why I read silly fashion blogs and why I click on posts here with the "celebrities are better than you" tags. Sometimes we all just need a fucking break.

But I think the reason I keep coming back to these posts aren't just for the reasons mentioned above, but because there's a certain amount of respect and awareness when you write about these topics-- an awareness that's usually missing from tabloids and gossip rags. I, for example, quit reading Jezebel completely after the disgustingly hypocritical way they'd use things like a celebrity's mental illness for page views while pretending to be holier than thou and superior when it comes to social issues (all I ask of sites like that is to own up to what you're posting for fuck's sake). I feel pretty damn confident that Courtney and Pajiba in general won't stoop that low and always ask the important questions when they do post about such things, which is why I can always click on these articles in good faith. So thanks and credit where it's due?

bonnie

Sing it, Courtney. I *love* all of yours and Joanna's posts, simply because you two are smart and entertaining as hell, and you give me a break from all the problems in the world I can't possibly fix this instant. It's also why I follow the Fug Girls. Because, dammit, sometimes we just need Muppet Sleeves.

specialj67

And sometimes, when you're just wandering around on Tumblr looking at the blinky and the shiny, you stumble into interesting and challenging conversations. I can't tell you the number of times I've come across really enlightening discussions about race, gender, and/or sexuality that sprang from a seemingly throwaway Glee gifset.

Seeing a Miley Cyrus post on the front page of Pajiba is not the problem. Seeing said post on the front page of f'ing CNN is the problem.

To use the analogies already present, the circus is fun...until the safety fence is gone and the animals run amok. The gladiators are entertaining...as long as they stay in the Coliseum and don't start fighting in the streets. There is a time and place for everything, and it seems like celeb gossip is staunchly against that concept.

I don't think people really mean to say you are ruiing the site. But I think a lot of folks get fatigued on seeing this stuff everywhere else, so when they try to find a safe haven and see your name in the byline, they unfairly blame you. But it isn't you, Court. It is the folks desperate for views, for attention, for "relevance".

I suspect that too many people are allowing escapism to determine their priorities. Yeah, the world isn't in the best of shapes right now. Yes, the everyday things can get to anyone. But constantly demanding fluff and ignoring the problems are not the answer. Rewarding serious news organizations for blatantly ignoring major world events in order to promote such nonsense with eyeballs is not the answer.

RigbyReardon

I agree. I love this pop culture crap- I eat it up with a spoon. I really do. Therefore, I really want to say that there's no inherent harm in our celebrity/fame obsessed culture. I mean, three hundred years ago, people gossiped just as much because that's what humans do. We like entertainment. Plays are just fancier entertainment. Many great novels are soapy and dramatic as hell. This is just the natural evolution of human culture. I really do think that. I do, however, also agree that there's a general degradation of the culture that may be linked to the need for escapism and our newly found ability to constantly access it.

That's the issue: constant access. I do think we're in some sort of weird upheaval at the moment (Industrial Revolution Part Deux: The Stupiding) and our culture hasn't quite caught up to what we're now able to do in mere moments because of the internet.

No solution. I don't think it's a downward spiral, necessarily... or maybe it is. I don't know. Just some thoughts.

Edited to say: I also think that this is just kind of how things are now, and the reason that I, personally, like the entertainment blogs that I like (Pajiba, LaineyGossip, GoFugYourself, and DListed) is because they're either a) funny as hell, or b) insightful about the new gossipy world we live in. Shout out especially to LaineyGossip for this. She knows what's up.

PDamian

This is precisely my beef with this crap. I don't follow the antics of the Kardashians, the Real Housewives, the Jersey Shore morons, or any of the other circus freaks. But I know who they are and what they do because they show up from time to time on the front cover of the NYTimes, on CNN.com, MSNBC, and other allegedly serious news outlets. If people want to follow the circus, I have no problem with that. To each his own. When the circus starts to follow me, then I have a problem.

Why, oh why, do I know what "twerking" is, when I'll never do it, no-one in my immediate family or acquaintance does it, and I have other things to worry about? The university at which I teach is facing serious budget shortfalls, and a number of programs are on the chopping block, much to the consternation of faculty and students alike. I went to lunch with colleagues earlier this week, expecting to talk about these issues. Instead, three of my so-called peers went on and on about Miley and her vinyl panties (and I'll never lunch with them again, that's for sure). Increasingly, there's no escaping this f*cking nonsense.

It's not that I don't understand escapism; I read Harry Potter fanfic religiously, and sometimes, I like to watch So You Think You Can Dance. I'm also a dedicated Game of Thrones fan. But I don't have to read about Peter Dinklage every time I open the Op-Ed page (too bad, too), and Daniel Radcliffe isn't the lead story on Rachel Maddow every night. Others may say, "if you don't like it, change the channel," and I used to do just that. My objection is that changing the channel doesn't work anymore, because this BS is on every channel. /old lady rant over

Tinkerville

Dude, Harry Potter fanfic's the best. Own it.

Sincerely, Someone who may or may not have been to a Wizard Rock concert in the last six months.

Berry

*Potter fic reader fist bump of solidarity* And if the rest of your rant is what constitutes an old lady rant, then old ladies rule.

Sometimes I think that it's easier to control the celebrity news BS levels to suit your own personal need for silly escapism if you live outside the US. We don't hear about the Kardashians in legitimate news shows. But then I remember that we do hear about the latest shenanigans in the Big Brother house in the news.... So you know, it's not actually better here, just as bad or as good as there, but in different ways.

/flu brain incoherent rambling

emmalita

Flu brain solidarity!

Berry

It's the worst. Also the worst: co-workers who give you attitude when you ask them to cover for you over the weekend because your sick. Especially after you've just covered for them because their friend was visiting. How is that fair?

emmalita

Oooo. That's the kind of petty, small-minded stuff I hold on to. Oh, you want me to cover for you? Hmmmm, the last time I asked you to cover for me BECAUSE I WAS SICK, you gave me attitude. Want to ask me to cover for you again? Of course, since I'm self employed, it's myself I'm talking to, so there's that.

Berry

I've usually tried reverse psychology -- being so nice and accommodating that they realize their own hypocrisy and assholiness. Lo and behold, it doesn't work, it just makes people take advantage of you. Who could have seen that coming?

Uriah_Creep

I'm also self-employed now, and I just love to give myself a good talking to. Stoopid employee!

emmalita

I was about to flippantly dub myself the worst co-worker I've ever had, but then a parade of horrors and nightmares went tumbling through my brain and I realized as much as I annoy myself, I'm not that bad. But yes, sometimes I gently beat my forehead against the wall going, "stooopid, stooopid emmalita!"

Uriah_Creep

I guess I'm not the worst co-irker (thank you BWeaves) I've ever had, but I'm definitely the worst employer. Why, I don't even give me benefits! What a prick.

emmalita

I always make myself attend staff meetings. But I can usually go in my pajamas. Also, no benefits, no paid leave, and no expense account. But I do have the company car and the corner office.

Uriah_Creep

You have a corner office? I don't have a corner office. I wonder if I could talk myself into getting me one?

Look at us cool cats, hanging around and chatting on Pa-Jie-Ba on a Friday night. We're so cool.

indarchandra

i was so proud of myself for keeping up until the Muppet sleeves thing. help a pop culture learning disabled out.

Because, dammit, sometimes it's fun (and healthy, I think) to not worry about actually important shit that will depress you and stress the hell out of you. Sometimes it's just fun to talk about unimportant shit. Sometimes you just have to not take shit so seriously. It'll make you happier in general.

Guest

By all means, spend your time worrying and talking about *nothing* but actually important stuff if you so want to. You'll feel like you're better than me, and that's OK, but it'll probably make you one miserable bastard.

Guest

Twerk! Leave Figgy alone!

Jezzer

I'm trying to figure out what it is about Figgy's post that set you off, and I'm just concluding that you're a crazy reactionary drive-by: "SHE SAID WORDS! KILL HER!"

Sars

I dont care* per se -- I read to distract and to numb my mind- and mostly because some blog writers, such as MK over at Dlisted.com is just freaking hillarious. So when my boring, yet stressful, lawyer job gets me down, and all I want to do is not think about the 100 fast approaching deadlines coming at me a mile a minute, I read Dlisted or Pajiba... and calm des fuck down. thats all.

BuffyloGal

I follow popular culture because I have lived abroad and know it is one thing which most people can discuss, hence a good way to meet new people. Don't have or WANT a TV? Only see art-house/ indy films? We probably won't get along well because I like to keep my options open.

I also am fascinated by what you mentioned above, what becomes popular or catches the populace's attention. I was once tempted to do a dissertation on the reappearance of the sofa (Nirvana Unplugged, Friends, etc.) and its implications just for the sheer joy of researching such a frivolous thing.

Salieri2

Sofas went away? Clearly I am not paying attention.

BuffyloGal

Oh, they're gone. But cupcakes and gourmet hot dogs are all the rage.

Salieri2

And cronuts, or so I hear from flyover country.

Modernlove

I'm just going to sit here and slow clap you. There are times when I feel like I should be caring more about Syria and the national debt and about all those thousands of things that make up the pages of the NYT and the Washington Post and the WSJ. My husband reads the Economist every week, I read Entertainment Weekly and Vanity Fair. I feel ashamed about this, like it's something I should hide.

And then I think about all the crap I have in my life. Everything that stresses me out and makes me worry. I tend to take on the worries of everyone around me and in the past it's gotten to the point where my own mental health takes a hit and I end up in a bad place. I think that's why I love stories about Miley and Charming Potato and even the Kardashians. It lets me escape from all the bad crap in the world for a little bit and just indulge in some guilty pleasure of reading about the lives of people who have it so much better and so much worse than I do. And now I'm going to bookmark this article and come back to it next time I feel guilty for not being more up on current world news.

Amanda Cotylo

Sorry, I just can't. I try not to judge but I can't help but think that each story published about these halfwits is like a Tinkerbell clap and if people stopped they would (mercifully) go away...

BuffyloGal

The same was said of Sarah Palin and yet she rears her head every few months in retaliation.

seannyd

This article drives me a little nuts, and I'm not entirely sure why. I guess I just hate the focus on this sort of stuff. It's not about the substance of what these people are trying to achieve. The Kardashians are the richest bottom feeders the world has to offer and it bums me out. It perpetuates the desire for fame for fame's sake. I mean, this isn't a new concept. Humanity desires inclusion and acceptance in most cases. We want to be part of the in crowd. And rich. Rich certainly helps.

You can say what you want about the output of what Michael Bay achieves, but at least he's working his ass off to create low brow entertainment. These other idiots, they contribute nothing to society. And I hate it. I know it will never go away and for the most part it's easily digestible which is why it's so easily perpetuated. But I guess I just want some publications to rise above the banality of that ridiculous obsession with "celebrity". At the risk of sounding like Captain Hyperbole here, I do feel like it's destroying our culture.

The reason people care? It's easy. There's no hard questions to ask about the superficiality of these people's lives. It affects the day-to-day lives of people at a close to a zero percent rate. There's nothing to deconstruct beyond the human being's seemingly inherent penchant for gossip. This makes sense. And we love a good story, and sometimes these stories are entertaining. But I just wish we'd try a little bit harder to make the focus of society something a little more important.

JenVegas

I don't think I can agree with you here because you know what else affects the day-to-day lives of people at a close to a zero percent rate? Art. Michael Bay's latest blockbuster. Literature. So we can all either give ourselves ulcers spending all of our energy just reading news and worrying about wars and the nuclear waste leaking into the ocean or we can take a break every once in a while and read a book or watch a movie or check in on what all the crazy, fairly useless "celebrities" are up to for larfs. My biggest issue with being a consumer of pop culture is that because I know about Kris Kardashian's show being canned, or what SWINTON wore to an award show they automatically assume that's ALL I care about when in reality I chose to diversify my holdings (as it were) for the sake of my sanity. It is a circus. Sometimes you need a circus. It's OK to need a circus.

seannyd

I understand where you're coming from, and I actually wasn't trying to imply that artistic endeavors always affect the day-to-day lives of people. (Although sometimes they do. I love film and television so much because it allows me to place myself in the shoes of another person and get a different perspective. Transformers movies don't quite do that for me though.)

I suppose this sort of thing wouldn't bother me so much if it wasn't so prescient everywhere I look. Why is THIS the information I'm being bombarded by? Because people click on it or buy the magazines more than the other options. And that's the issue that I have more than its existence.

DarthBrookes

The header pic looks like a poster for "Addams Family Shadows" : An Addams Family/Dark Shadows crossover creepsquel.

e jerry powell

Mostly because of Bruce's tenth facelift.

Fredo

Part of me has always connected pop culture dissection with the ancient Greeks and their myths of heroes and gods. Because, let's face it, the Kardashians, the Brangelinas, Miley, et al don't exist in any shape, way or form in the world we exist in. (Neither do the Peyton Mannings, LeBron James or Derek Jeters of the sports world). We don't look at their woes or triumphs as having to do with the everyday, humdrum lives we exist in. Just as the Greeks never told us about Achilles going to the can or the back taxes Theseus had to pay or Athena having a bad hair day. So, in a sense, there's a bit of myth-making where it comes to pop culture personalities -- the latest iteration of idol worship or destruction. We want to emulate or reject them, but we need the stories to be told.

But part of me does also think that our hunger stems from a basic societal requirement for circus. The Romans had gladiators dying in the arena. Renaissance Europeans had traveling troubadours. We have Miley Cyrus pseudo-twerking on stage at the VMAs. We need an escape from staring at these TPS reports and car batteries that don't start and annoying in-laws and the rest of life. And while we can't wrap our minds around the complexities of the Syrian Civil War, the fears of National Security spying run amok or the derivatives market making peasants out of loaned-out-of-their-gourds college grads, the Kardashians are simple to see, understand, root/loathe for.

VohaulsRevenge

I mostly agree, with the slight qualification that, IMO, celebrity gossip is popular because it is tied to the tension we feel between what we expect a celebrity is like, and who they really are, or more likely, who we believe they are. "Celebrity" as a noun is myth; "gossip" is deconstruction. Miley Cyrus is current celebrity gossip fodder because many people feel (whether they admit it, or not) a vicarious thrill in seeing an attractive multimillionaire make a fool of herself in public--how great can she be? You can't leave your Fallible Human Cap™ at home after you make your first million, and I think that both fascinates and frightens people, something that celebrity gossip comes to being cathartic for.

In. My. Opinion.

Fredo

I would agree with that. A sense that, though they don't inhabit our every day world, they have to put their pants on one leg at a time, so to speak.

Jezzer

Well, Kim Kardashian IS something like a Greek myth, if you count the one where Zeus seduced a woman while disguised as a golden shower.

My mom always told me that I would be a very boring person at social gatherings if I didn't know at least a little bit about pop culture or watch at least a little frivolous TV. True story, and a true statement, probably.